Smita Dudhat
HCS/531
05/04/2015
Katherine Brewer
Technology and Health Care Evolution
As per Stanley (n.d.), “We will have to use technology to reduce face to face time with doctors and accommodate more people in our health system and lower costs.” Information technology plays a crucial role in health care delivery. ABC consultants have been assigned to develop software that will help to make the health care delivery easier and user-friendly for this particular organization. Faster and more complete health care delivery can be at your fingertips with the introduction of Safekeeping Electronic Healthcare Record). The information contained in Safekeeping (EHR) is used to coordinate patient care, reduce medical errors and for efficient Health care delivery.
Safekeeping (EHR)
There is a constant state of flux in the Healthcare delivery and is ever changing. Demand from consumers for a faster, smarter, and economic product has continued to push the industry for the Technological advancements. Safekeeping is a software that encompasses every aspect of patient care delivery for this organization. It is a form of Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) that can address all the information about the patient. “EHR replaces the traditional paper medical records, which include a patient’s demographic information, problems and diagnoses, plan of care, progress notes, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and Radiology reports” (Shi & Singh, 2012, p. 163).
Coordination of care
Electronic Health Care Record is a very useful tool for the health care personals for day-to-day patient’s care. Firstly it allows a very smooth coordination between all the people who are taking care of a particular patient. All the patient’s information is at your fingertips it is very convenient and time-saving. I remember that at one of my job when we were not using electronic charting we have to be dependent on paper charts. Everybody is chasing patient's chart so I have to wait before I can verify Physician's order and then I can give treatment to the patient. It makes very easy to take care of the patient. It improves the quality of care because health care personnel gets more time to take care of the patient and have access to overall picture of patient's condition.
EHR can be accessed from anywhere in the hospital, and physicians can access it from even from outside of the hospital. It has made it possible to put an order immediately so the patient will get the treatment instantly even if the physician is physically not present in the hospital. In the future if the government will grant permission then all health care facilities can be connected electronically. It will make it possible that patient's record can be accessed by a health care personal anywhere in United States. It will take patient care at a new level. Say, for example, somebody is brought to the emergency room and is unconscious. The physician finds insurance card in patient's pocket that can be used to access patient's health information, and it will help to treat patient’s condition faster.
Medication errors The second advantage of EHR is it can be used to reduce medication error. As per “FDA”, a medication error is "any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer”. Physicians can order medication and diagnostic procedure from anywhere. It is mandatory to scan patient's name band first and then have to scan medication before delivering it to the patient. So by any chance if someone is giving wrong medication then the computer will alert by showing that this particular medication is not ordered for this patient. It will also give alert for the wrong dose of medication. It is life-saving. Say for example if the patient is having Diabetes Mellitus and is